Braydon530i

Hello All,

I have posted on here last year about the roughness of my suspension on my e60. I have changed the suspension 3 times now, first from my old worn out SE suspension and then to junk Chinese coilovers which broke after 4 weeks. I did this because I wanted a quick fix and cool look, big mistake don’t buy coilovers. Then I bought a set of M sport 704A suspension off a 545i. The car handled like a dream but road horribly on winter tires last year. I then bought 19” wide wheels for summer on continentals that were much heavier than stock 17” and to my surprise the car actually rode much much better due to brand new tires and heavy rims to force more pressure on the extremely stiff m springs. Recently my front dampers blew out again so I replaced them with Sachs, I’ve driven about 200 miles and the car is the stiffest thing on the planet, I have come to conclusion that I think besides it not settling in yet the winter tires are old and hard and ruin the ride for some reason. Please give me insight because I hate driving the car right now.

neilv

I'm assuming you bought sport/M-sport shocks to match the springs?

Braydon530i

My mechanic said that the cheaper SE Sachs were good enough for the 15mm drop kit as he’s seen many cars use 40mm+ on the same dampers. Is this bad?

neilv

The dampers are designed for a lower spring rate and at a different ride height.

Its less so the lowering and more so the increased spring rate due to the lowering( I also believe the M-sports are stiffer than the standard sport springs even too).

I mean for sure they will work but that is the source of your ride quality issues and they will wear out pre-maturely.

Braydon530i

Yes but I also don’t really notice a difference from the M sport dampers which were twice the price. I’ve driven the C63 black series and the ride was actually worse than this because of stiffer dampers. I don’t really care about the life span just hoping they develop a softer ride over time. Some say the dampers will adapt to the ride height and become less stiff over time.

neilv

Dampers are designed to dampen a specific range of spring rates. If your rates are outside this they cannot do what they are supposed to do (I had to re-valve mine on the race car when I decided to change the rates for a difference balance).

Standard non-adjustable dampers cannot adjust to the change in spring rate. Yes they will work but the lack of ride quality and smoothness is due to that fact.

You had m-sport dampers on the same springs? and the ride quality was exactly the same?

Braydon530i

Yeah, if anything the other dampers would rattle the steering more. I take it the springs are making most of the ride.

neilv

Depends on the condition of the other dampers. If they are past their prime; then they would also suck. 1 of my other car is an M-sport(E90) and even though its solid and drives well; I still find it soft. 120K on it as well.

Look at other parts of the car: suspension bushings,ball joints, strut mounts, alignment etc and see of anything else is worn? I'm assuming you have also removed the stupid run flats already?

Braydon530i

My other dampers had 120k on them, I think maybe I’m just not used to a stiffer ride, even our new Q5 has a similar ride. The bigger bumps seem smoother on the new dampers but not the cracks in the road. I got some old shit winter 17s that seem way harsher than my continental Extreme contact 285 19s. I wonder if the weight of the M5 rims are more geared towards the stiffer springs?

Braydon530i

I’ve changed all my front suspension parts